By Chukwudi Nweje, Lagos
Lagos State governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, popularly called JANDOR, on Wednesday, unveiled a six-point programme of action he would pursue if elected governor in 2023.
The programme tagged ‘WEALTHY’ comprises: Works, Housing & Road Infrastructure; Education; Aquaculture & Ease of Doing Business; Law, Order & Security; Tourism, Transport & Traffic Management; Health & Environment; and, Youth, Women & Social Development.
“We will make Lagos truly WEALTHY by giving a breath of fresh air in the area of Works & Infrastructure, Education & Environment, Aquaculture & ease of doing business, Law & Order, Transportation & Traffic management, Health & Housing, Youth & Women empowerment, and other critical areas of governance.”
Adeniran stated this in a statement on Wednesday ahead of the official kick-off of his campaign on October 18. He stated that the experiences across the 5 IBILE divisions of the state ─ Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu, Lagos [Eko] and Epe ─ since 1999 have remained deplorable and vowed that his administration would redistribute the wealth of Lagos State among the people opposed to the status quo where the wealth is concentrated in the hands of one individual.
He also called on the people of the state to move away from their armchair critics’ posture and become active partakers in the quest to rescue Lagos State from misrule.
He said, “We are set to make Lagos work better in the interest of all residents by decentralising development to all parts of the state and ensuring that the redirection of the flow of the wealth of the state from the pockets of an individual to the benefit of all. We are very intentional about our vision of birthing a true Mega City led by a servant leader who is truly independent and will not need a second level of approval before taking decisions. The power will truly reside with the people and not an individual pretending to be a demi-god.
“We are not beckoned to serve or railroaded into a project of which we have little knowledge. This journey started exactly seven years ago, after a detailed appraisal of the performance of successive governments in the State of Lagos from 1999. We are convinced that our state will fare better when well-meaning stakeholders graduate from armchair criticism of the systemic decadence to becoming active players by throwing their hats into the ring to salvage the state. We can have it better; our lives could be much easier when altruism, transparent honesty, accountability, and empathy govern the conduct of public officeholders,” he added.
The PDP candidate decried the endemic corruption in the governance structure of the state and promised to introduce reforms that would fast-track reforms and plug financial leakages.
He added, “We will bring on financial re-engineering through critical reforms that will fast-track operational processes and plug financial leakages in the public service. We will hit the ground running. We are bewildered that over 2 million of our children are out of school. We are pained to see our people suffer so much to access basic healthcare services. We are ashamed of the poor state of infrastructure and the widening gap in infrastructure deficit. We are not comfortable that our state’s wealth is only on paper, nothing significant is on the ground to justify the humongous revenue generation, including our local and foreign borrowings to fund the budget deficit, year on year.”